


Behind the Scars

by FlyMeToTheMoon



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Blood, Complete, Consensual, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, M/M, Oral Sex, Piercings, Scars, Self-Harm, Smut, Trans Character, Trans Handsome Jack, Trans Male Character, Trans Rhys, Vibrators, kissing scars
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-18
Updated: 2019-06-18
Packaged: 2020-05-13 23:10:01
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19261042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlyMeToTheMoon/pseuds/FlyMeToTheMoon
Summary: Rhys finally moves some of his stuff into Jack's apartment. It should be great, since Jack is head over heels for Rhys, but it puts a new stress on him to keep his old self-harm scars a secret. Later, Rhys walks in on Jack in the middle of it, and helps him through it. Later again, Rhys gets to ask about all of Jack's old scars, and kisses each of them.(This contains triggering content.)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Basically: Chapter 1 - Smut; Chapter 2 - Self-Harm; Chapter 3 - Comfort; Each is set about a week apart.
> 
> I know reading fics like this used to help me out, and keep me from doing anything bad, so I decided to write this to kind of vent a bit.
> 
> ((It should go without saying, that you should be wary of reading this if you are currently struggling with self-harm. There's no shame in seeking professional help, or reaching out to friends if you're currently self-harming.))
> 
> Chapter 1 has a bit of smut. Rhys and Jack are both trans men, and perform oral sex on each other. The words 'dick,' 'cock,' and 'clit' are eventually used for their anatomy.  
> Chapter 2 has a graphic description of Jack self-harming by cutting.  
> Chapter 3 has Rhys asking about each of Jack's scars, kissing them on the way. Jack finds a way to let Rhys know what's under his mask.

Jack felt Rhys curl up behind him. He felt Rhys’ legs spoon up against his own and Rhys' arm carefully slip along side Jack’s own to pet his forearm. It would have been a soothing way to start waking up except Rhys’ thumb brushed over the raised lines running through Jack’s tattoo. He twitched his arm out of Rhys’ hold and shoved it under his pillow.

“Mff…too early.” He grumbled hoping Rhys didn’t think anything of his reaction.

Rhys just buried his face between Jack’s shoulders and the mattress and fell back asleep.

But now Jack couldn’t fall back asleep. Now that they were officially sleeping together in the same bed, and not just fuck buddies, it was only a matter of time until Rhys noticed and asked about the other lines on his thigh. Jack knew it was a bad habit, but how much worse than drinking or smoking away his problems could it be, anyway? Rhys has seen him higher than a kite and drunk as hell - even joined him a few times when they were both having a rough day, (or even a good day). What were a few homemade scars on top of that? At least, that’s how he reasoned with himself to try and settle his mind. Maybe he’d already noticed and just not said anything. Rhys has definitely seen the cigarette burns on his upper arms, and not asked about them, let alone the multitude of other old scars littered across Jack's body. The only ones Rhys brought up were how they had different shaped top surgery scars. Hopefully he knew when not to ask.

A nasty thought told him it was only a matter of time until there was a fresh red one that Rhys would have no choice but to ask about. He stamped that thought down. It’d been decent year or two since the last time, he was done with all that.

He groaned. It really was too early. He turned around to pull Rhys against his side. He cracked his eyes open. The man somehow always managed to look beautiful when he slept, despite his tendency to drool.

Half-smirking, Jack slid Rhys’ robotic hand down from his chest, trailing all the way down to the edge of his boxers. Slipping it under the waistband got Rhys’ attention and he looked up at Jack, with a puzzled look. “Too early, huh?”

“Yeah, but seeing that drool dried over your cheek got me all hot ‘n bothered.”

“What?” Rhys took his hand back to wipe it off, while Jack sleepily chuckled.

“Kidding, pumpkin.” Jack kissed Rhys’ forehead, slyly guiding Rhys’ hand back to his groin.

“You really wanna get it on at six in the morning?” Rhys half-laughed and laid his head back on Jack’s chest.

“'Six in the morning,’ augh!… You sure know what words really get my juices flowing.” _Was it really that early?_ “Just a quickie to tide me over then.”

Rhys placed a soft kiss over Jack’s chest. “Nothing’s 'just a quickie’ with you.” Rhys’ fingers brushed over the tip of Jack’s dick.

“At six AM, it _better_ be a quickie. This is prime snoozin’ time.” Jack hummed at the feeling, sliding his boxers off and nuzzling closer to Rhys.

Rhys just hummed as he swirled his fingers around Jack’s cock, pinching it lightly between two as Jack hissed.

“Nnn.. do the- the vibratey thing.” Jack wiggled his fingers in the air and felt Rhys hide a smile against his chest.

“'The vibratey thing’… Love that. So eloquent.” Two of Rhys’ fingers soon began vibrating against Jack’s dick, and it was only a moment before he was arching into Rhys’ touch.

“Mmm, that’s good.” Jack’s hips twitched into Rhys’ touch.

“Hold on.” Rhys sat up, throwing back the sheet and settling in place between Jack’s legs with a devious smile.

“Oh, kitten, you’re too good for me!” Jack grinned as he hooked his legs over Rhys’ shoulders. “Best way to wake up.”

Rhys pinched Jack’s nub between his vibrating fingers as his tongue lapped over the tip.

“Fuck yes… Just like that…” Jack felt the heat start to coil in him as Rhys’ fingers started vibrating harder. Jack whined, running his fingers through Rhys’ hair. It was perfect.

As soon as Rhys started rubbing his fingers, keeping Jack’s clit pinched in between them, Jack came jerking his hips up against Rhys’ tongue. He groaned out as the electric feeling spread through his whole body. Jack held Rhys in place until the vibrating became too much.

“Damn, princess that was intense,” Jack said with a sleepy smile. “Come take your throne on my face.” He held out his hands.

“What, so I have to do all the work again?” Rhys pouted.

“Yup.” Jack didn’t budge. Rhys was the one who woke them up anyway, so it was well within Jack’s rights to stay put, as far as he was concerned.

Rhys sighed as he climbed up over him, making sure his knobby knees poked Jack a few times to express his frustration. He pushed the extra pillows out of the way and Jack yanked him down onto his tongue. Rhys yelped, but Jack just hummed against him. Rhys was already leaking a bit, and Jack dipped his tongue in before swirling it around Rhys’ dick. He was always jealous of Rhys in this department.

Rhys whined and combed his fingers through Jack’s hair encouragingly. “Oh… _Jack…_ ”

Jack smiled against him and sucked Rhys into his mouth. He was glad Rhys remembered he likes hearing his name. Jack stuck his tongue out farther to rub his piercing against Rhys’ dick and felt Rhys tense up over him with a gasp. He rolled the piercing around Rhys, cupping his dick with the tip of his tongue.

Rhys had to double over to hold the bed for balance as his hips rocked against Jack’s face. His whines and gasps were music to Jack’s ears, and he tightened his grip around Rhys’ thighs to pull him down harder.

Jack sucked on Rhys without relent, grinding his piercing on Rhys and not letting him twitch away with the iron grip he had. Rhys was pleading for more, pleading for relief, whining out, and finally cried out with release. “Ahhhn~! Jackk!” He rode it out over Jack’s tongue with heaving breaths before finally stilling.

Jack flicked his tongue over Rhys just to watch him gasp and twitch away. Jack laughed.

Rhys climbed back down and laid next to Jack, still panting a bit. “You’re always so good at that.” He hooked a leg over Jack’s and curled up against his chest again.

“You’re always so tasty.” He leaned into Rhys’ hold. Gently, Jack angled Rhys’ head up for a kiss. They both tasted like sleep and sex, but it didn’t matter. Rhys looked up at him after, face showing nothing but pure adoration. Jack would never admit it, but he liked Rhys’ brown eye best. He gave Rhys another kiss before wrapping his other arm around the man and play-smothering him into Jack’s chest like a pillow. “Time for a nap.” Rhys struggled to get away, but gave up as soon as he had enough space to breathe.

“You’re too hot, Jack!” Rhys protested.

“I know.” Jack smirked, knowing full well how their lightly sweaty skin was sticking together.

“It’s sticky.” Rhys whined.

“Yeah, you were.” Jack laughed.

“Come on…” Rhys groaned. Getting a different idea, his hands wandered to Jack’s sides and quickly began tickling him.

“Mm!” Jack twitched away with a laugh, trying to push Rhys away now. “Fine! Fine. Ughhh.” Jack sighed before hauling himself out of bed. “Dibs on first shower then.”

Rhys was still giggling a bit. “Hurry up.” He tossed Jack’s underwear at him as he walked away.

“You know… There’s always time for round two in the shower~” Jack called behind him with a cackle.

“One is never enough with you…” Rhys chuckled and got up, determined to hold Jack to that promise.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, this chapter contains triggering content - a very graphic description of self-harming by cutting, right off the bat. I don't recommend reading if you think you might be sensitive to that right now.

Jack sunk down to the floor, leaning against the tub. The familiar burn slid along his thigh as he watched the beads of red swell up. He pried open the cut, urging more of it to fill the slit.

Snot threatened to drip out his nose from crying and he cursed and grabbed a wad of toilet paper to dab it away.

Jack blotted at the blood as it dripped down and he waited for it to stop bleeding before he set to work on another. Just a quick thing and he’d be alright again, that’s how it always went after a bad panic. He picked another spot, ignoring the still-pink ones from last week, and the pale grey ones from years ago.

It was like a hit of adrenaline that stopped every other bad feeling he didn’t want to think about. All his doubts about Rhys. Stress about having to hide his face from someone he loved. The fact that he was in deep with Rhys, and didn’t want him to leave because of the disaster that was Jack’s mood swings regarding said emotion. He groaned out as the blade went deeper than he planned as he ran it along the slice a second time. The chafing in his pants was going to be hell later, but for now, he was able to take a deep breath and try to let it all just wash away.

He cleared his throat as he reached for fresh toilet paper to blot the drip.

There was a knock on the door.

Jack froze. He told Rhys he needed some time alone, and Rhys left in a huff, saying Jack never wanted to spend time with him any more. Apparently, he came back. Too soon.

“Jack, you alright? I forgot my comb in there.”

Jack’s eyes shot to the comb on the counter. He didn’t know what to say. He took too long to answer and Rhys started opening the door.

“I’ll just be a second, I know right where it is.”

“ _DON’T_.” He was too late, though. Rhys turned to see why Jack was on the floor and paled when he saw the blood.

They were both still.

This was it, Jack told himself. The day Rhys finally walks out on him. He felt more tears start to roll down his face and decided he was gonna have to be the one to break the silence. He grabbed way more paper than he needed and let out a weak laugh as he wiped his face.

“I know, right? 41 years old and I’m still doing this shit.” More silence as Jack shakily wiped the blood that was now dripping onto the bathmat. He avoided looking back up at Rhys, who he could tell was wringing his hands thinking of something smart to say as he always did.

“H-… how long?” Rhys held his ground, which impressed Jack a bit. He didn’t think a lot of people he dated would have taken a second look before running away. _Probably only Nisha would have stayed_ … He cut that train of thought away.

“ _What do you think?!_ ” Jack instantly felt bad for snapping. He took in a shaky breath. “My whole life… Just haven’t in a while, though… Until recently.”

Rhys took a few steps closer. “Couple days ago when you said you needed time alone…?”

Jack nodded, focusing his attention on dabbing away the bead of blood each time it swelled up again, not giving it enough pressure to actually stop the bleeding.

“Is that why you’ve been avoiding me?” The pain was evident in Rhys’ voice and Jack hated that he was the reason for it. He didn’t answer.

“Are you… seeing someone for this?”

_Oh, Rhys… You innocent little thing_. “I’m not about to spill all my weaknesses and fears for someone to sell to the top bidding assassin. I’m too important here for that. I handle all my own problems. That’s how it’s always been. 'M still here, right?”

Rhys sat down next to Jack, not caring if he was intruding on personal space. Rhys’ hand stopped Jack’s useless blotting and held a fresh wad of paper over the bleeding lines, keeping pressure on it. Jack’s hands sat uselessly in his lap as he avoided looking at Rhys.

He saw the old lines on his wrist shine under his tattoo. He rubbed at them. “You know… I got this to cover it up. Hoped I would finally stop, but… Just ended up picking a different spot after a bad breakdown a couple years back.” He finally looked to Rhys, and it hurt like hell seeing his worried expression. He sighed. “I’m a walking trainwreck, huh?… More than you bargained for, I bet. I’m sorry, Rhys.”

“You don’t need to apologize. I just…” His face twisted with concern. “I want you to feel like you can talk to me about... _anything,_ okay?”

Jack felt guilt pool in his stomach. “And _I_ don’t want you to feel obligated to play therapist for me, or stay with me out of pity.” He looked away. The last thing he needed was to put more of a burden on Rhys.

“Jack, you barely open up to me about anything at all. Sometimes it feels like you’re pushing me away on purpose. I’m with you because I want to be.”

“I don’t want to scare you away with how I am. Everyone either dies or runs away when things get too serious. Kinda hard to deal with when I always end up breaking out the L word too soon, or get too clingy. I just... wanted to do right by you. But it happens every time. And now with this…” Jack stopped talking when Rhys leaned his head on Jack’s shoulder.

“I’m here for you, okay? It’s gonna take _way_ more than this to get rid of me.”

“You haven’t even seen me without my mask.”

“It’s not going to change how I feel about you. Even if you never want to show me.”

Jack stayed silent. Rhys really was too good for him.

Rhys spoke up again. “Look, I don’t want you to push me away because of your own doubts. I’ve known you for a while, and now I know what to expect. Please talk to me if you think you're gonna do this again. If you can’t talk to someone else, you can at least talk to me, okay? I don’t want you beating yourself up like this.”

Jack leaned his head against Rhys’. He didn’t know what to say.

Rhys waited a few seconds before turning to face Jack again. “Promise?”

Jack looked back at Rhys. “Sure.”

“Say it.”

Jack sighed. “I promise to talk to you.”

Rhys kissed him on the cheek and stood up. “Let’s get you a bandage for this.”

Rhys fished around the drawers for a sizable bandage and some antibacterial ointment and helped clean up the marks. Once that was done, Rhys pointed at the razor. “Can we throw that away, or do you just want to put it out of sight?”

Jack considered it for a moment. There were more packed away somewhere, but he didn’t want to think about it. “Throw it away.” Rhys picked up the used paper and razor and dropped them in the trash. He held up Jack’s chin. “ _I love you_.”

Hearing it relaxed Jack a bit. “Thank you.”

Rhys smiled softly. “Now get up and put some clothes on. We’re gonna go out and get some coffee, okay? You can’t stay cooped up between here and the office all the time.” He offered a hand to help Jack up and pulled him into a hug. Jack wrapped his arms around Rhys and buried his face into Rhys’ shoulder. They held each other like that for a few more minutes.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rhys kisses all of Jack's scars in this one.

“What’s this one?” Rhys ran a finger along a jagged scar trailing from Jack’s heel to ankle. Jack agreed to get the tough questions out of the way and let Rhys ask about all his scars. They were starting from the bottom, up, both laying nude on the bed.

“Jumped into a lake down on Pandora as a kid. Didn’t realise it was basically a dumping ground for broken windshields that just happened to fill up with water after a rain.”

“ _Owch._ ”

“Yeah. _Owch_.” Jack shivered as Rhys ran a finger along it’s length. “Not much of a fan of swimming after that.” Rhys placed a kiss on it and moved up, examining Jack’s legs for more.

“What about this?” There were two shiny lines next to Jack’s knee, barely visible.

“Uhm… I think a rakk did that, but I’m not sure. That’s an old one.”

Rhys kissed it.

“And this?” A small scrape along the outside of Jack’s other thigh. Looked recent, but also like it might fade away within the year.

Jack snorted. “The chair I sat down on in R&D a month or two ago got caught in some equipment or something, had a jagged edge I didn't see and tore my pants open. Right there.” He made a slicing motion. “People laughed. And then got thrown into the stalker enclosure. In all fairness, it was a _little_ funny, but I was having a bad day.”

“Yeughh..” Rhys kissed it anyway. His fingers trailed across the band of discoloured skin around Jacks thigh. “Holster?”

“Yeah.”

Rhys kissed it. He hovered over the barcode of lines on the inside of Jack’s thigh and kissed it without asking. They already addressed that the evening Rhys found out. Moving up he let out a half-hearted laugh. “Okay, so I've been dying to ask, is this a scar from what I think it is?” Rhys gently placed a finger over Jack’s dick. There was a small silvery blotch over the hood there.

“I’m surprised you even noticed. Yeah. Botched clit piercing. I slept around quite a lot as a rowdy teen, and it didn’t heal.”

“ _Just_ as a teen?” Rhys teased.

“Okay, I’m not going to confirm or deny any Hyperion rumours you've heard, but... Whatever it was, it would pale in comparison to back then.” He laughed. “Don’t ever let anyone named ' _Kandy with a K_ ’ anywhere near your junk with a needle.”

“Noted.” Rhys leaned down to place a kiss and felt Jack’s hands hold him in place.

“Harder.” He teased.

Rhys obliged, but only for a moment. Jack whined when he persisted on pulling away. “There’s time for that later.”

“This?” He poked at a small line near Jack’s hip.

“Hysterectomy. Those too.” He showed the other couple incision scars, some less prominent than the first.

Rhys kissed each of them, and ended with Jack’s belly piercing. “I can see this one is still occupied.”

“I got sad after the clit piercing business, so I got that baby shortly after. _Not_ by Kandy with a K. I don’t actually remember it getting done, but it was about that time. Same with the tongue piercing, I think. I dunno. It’s all kind of a blur once I ran away.”

“Hm…” Rhys nodded. “Turn over I think there’s one back here.”

Jack rolled to his side, already smiling and knowing just what Rhys was talking about.

“Yeah, this one.” A scar from a bullet skimming across the back of his hip.

“That’s actually Nisha’s handiwork.”

“Your ex?”

“Yup. I snuck down to Pandora to surprise her, hoping to crawl in her bed and be there for her to wake up to, but she fired off a couple rounds as soon as I hacked the lock open. My fault really.”

“So your idea of being romantic is breaking and entering into _the sheriff’s_ home in the middle of the night.” Rhys snorted.

“I may have been high.”

“You can’t blame everything on being high.”

“It’s better than admitting it was just a bad idea.” Jack chuckled.

Rhys kissed it and pushed Jack to lie on his back again. He ran his finger tips over Jack’s chest scars. “I know what these are.” He kissed each of them.

Jack lamented the fact that Rhys’ were nearly as pale as his skin, but Jack’s own were dark and grey. A product of different skin types, but he was always self conscious about being shirtless when he first got it done. At least Helios and Elpis were usually cool, so there wasn’t much reason to take off his usual four or five layers of clothes until he got in bed. “Lemme kiss yours.” Jack pulled Rhys forward and laid a slobbery kiss over the first one.

“Oh, don’t be gross Jack, _come on_!” Rhys giggled, trying to push him away, but Jack didn’t let go until he covered the other one with a sloppy kiss as well.

“You love it.” Jack hummed a laugh to himself as he laid back down.

“Yeah, but you sure love to push it.” Rhys wiped off the spit back onto Jack’s chest. Next, Rhys picked up Jack’s hand. There was a fine scar across his palm. “What’s this one?”

Jack pulled his hand back to examine it. “Hm. Really not sure. Maybe from a faulty gun or something." He gave his hand back to Rhys who kissed it, turning it over and looking for more. He came across the lines through Jack’s tattoo, and pointed to it, letting Jack talk about it if he wanted.

“Depressed teen. What else. Don’t remember when I started.”

Rhys kissed it and moved up his arm. “These?”

The cigarette burns. Jack hated knowing he had to carry those with him everywhere. He could imagine the old cunt smiling evilly from beyond the grave knowing he would never be able to forget her. “Gran. Her cigarettes.” Was all he offered.

Rhys nodded with a sympathetic look and kissed each mark. Not finding any more, he took up Jack’s left arm and did the same with the ones there. He found a surgical incision over Jack’s elbow. “Broke something here?”

“Yeah.” Jack frowned remembering the circumstance. “After the vault incident. My own fault for throwing a fit when I was still getting used to limited vision. Fell right on the joint and spent the next couple weeks doped up on painkillers in a cast.”

“I don’t remember hearing about that.”

“ _Yeah._ 'Cause it was _embarrassing_. Had a double stand in for me everywhere. It sucked.”

Rhys snickered. “Missed opportunity to go out and be like, ' _Huh-huh, you should have seen the other guy_.’”

“As if I need to look tougher. Besides, I’ve used that excuse truthfully one too many times for my fucked up knuckles. People would’ve gone looking for a body to clean up.”

“Fair point.” Rhys kissed his elbow, and moved up farther. “I think there’s only one left. If you’re up for it?”

Jack stayed silent. He wasn’t sure if he was ready to face the possibility of Rhys turning away and never looking at him the same. He told himself they’d come this far, and that, realistically, if Rhys was scared, he would just ask Jack to keep the mask on - that he probably wouldn’t leave Jack after all this. At best, Jack could start taking his mask off at night again.

But his stomach really turned at the idea of showing his face to anyone. It was hard enough dealing with the doctors when they tried to fix it, and he killed almost all of them.

“ _I’m not ready_.” He looked away disappointed in himself.

Rhys placed his hands on Jack’s cheeks and pulled him to look back again. “Hey. It’s okay. I said you didn’t ever have to show me if you didn’t want to. I still love you.” He kissed Jack.

When Rhys pulled away. Jack whispered, “I love you, too.”

Rhys tried to lighten the mood and rubbed his hips over Jack’s. “How about this, then? I said there was time for it later.”

Jack couldn’t resist.

…

After a nice romp they laid back and Jack turned out the light. He got an idea. “Rhys.”

“Hmm, yeah?” Voice wavering with sleepiness.

“Can I blindfold you?”

“Next time, yeah. I don’t think I got a round three in me.”

“No. I mean. I want to let you feel my face instead of look at it.”

Rhys sat up. “Are you sure?”

“…Yeah. I think so.” He grabbed Rhys’ shirt off the ground and and climbed back into bed, sitting cross legged. “I want to show you, but I’m not ready to see your expression when you find out. If you at least feel what to expect, then maybe it won’t be so bad later.”

“Okay.” Rhys looked a bit nervous, now fully awake again, but he let Jack tie the shirt around his face.

Jack sighed and slowly unclipped his mask. Double checking that Rhys wasn’t trying to peek, he peeled the mask away, wincing slightly at the pressure on his aching scar.

He set it down on the bed next to them and grabbed Rhys’ hands. Rhys flinched from the touch, but relaxed as Jack brought them up to his face.

Rhys didn’t move his hands at first, making sure it was okay. Jack let go of Rhys’ hands and felt Rhys gently slide his fingers over Jack’s face. As predicted, his fingers found the crevice of the scar and trailed his fingers along its length. Jack hissed. It was still constantly scarring over the new skin that tried to close the gap, so the tenderness never went away.

Rhys quickly pulled back. “Sorry, did I hurt you?”

“It’s fine, just sensitive. _Keep going_.” He pulled Rhys’ hands back and let him map out the shapes.

“It’s deep.” Rhys commented softly.

“Yeah. Feels like half my face is gone if I don’t have the mask on.”

“Your jaw is shorter, too.”

Jack huffed a laugh, still nervous, but Rhys wasn’t recoiling in fear, yet. “That much, huh? That was more my own choice than anything to do with the scar. Having a baby face didn’t suit me when I started T, so I took the opportunity when I had it.”

“Hm.” Rhys was still feeling over his brow. “Your skin is soft.”

“Yours, too, pumpkin.”

Rhys’ fingers felt the top of the scar and trailed a thumb down each side. “It’s like the vault symbol?” He cradled Jack’s face in each hand.

“Yeah.” Jack leaned into the touch. “Like a big ol’ brand… _I hate it_.”

“Jack…” Rhys whispered. “Can I kiss you? On your real lips.”

Jack hesitated, but lifted the dangling shirt just enough to reveal Rhys’ mouth. He leaned forward and gently kissed Rhys, unsure of himself until Rhys encouraged more out of him. Jack’s pulse sped up as he passionately kissed Rhys back, relieved to find Rhys just as eager. Rhys wrapped his arms around Jack’s neck as they slowed down, hungrily sucking kisses at each other’s lips.

“ _Your_ lips are softer than I thought.” Jack whispered against Rhys’ cheek. “It’s like kissing through plastic wrap or something with the mask.”

Rhys laughed at that. “If you want to blindfold me more often, then that’s fine with me.”

“ _Maybe I will_.” He kissed Rhys one more time, like a promise, before pulling away and sliding his mask back on, pressing it tightly to his face and locking the clasps.

He took the shirt off Rhys and kissed him again through the mask.

“Love you, cupcake.”

“Love you, too, Jack.” Rhys hugged him.

“Thanks for not screaming.”

Rhys scoffed. “That’s a first.”

Jack laughed, completely taken off guard. “I’m serious, though. It means a lot.”

“I know.” Rhys smiled that ten million dollar smile and Jack felt his residual worries start to melt away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope this made up for the second chapter. I've had the idea for Rhys being allowed to touch Jack's face before he gets to see it in my mind for a while and I just couldn't wait to write it.


End file.
